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The case of Karyn Costello

Steve Dozspot is raising a hue and cry over the case of Karyn Costello who has, apparently, been living in hospital for two years because her disabilities have on into the “too hard basket”.

“Ms Costello has been confined to a wheelchair, forced to wait since 2007 in Canberra Hospital for a Disability ACT Individual Support Package (ISP), which would enable her to live at home.

“Karyn’s needs were last assessed for an ISP in June 2008 and her requirements were then categorised as being at the highest level.

“Since the assessment last year, her condition has improved and Karyn has now regained minimal use of her arms and hands.

“Despite this improvement, which would significantly reduce the assistance required, it appears the Government is still under the assumption that Karyn’s case is too complicated and costly to address.

“I have last written to the Minister for Disability on the 7th April asking for an urgent new assessment of Ms Costello. To date, I have not received any response from the Government on when Ms Costello’s reassessment will take place and no indication of a timeline to resolve this case.

The lesson here might be to approach a Government MLA first if one has a problem?

Steve Doszpot has apparently been visiting Ms Costello for a few weeks now, offering suport and trying to get the Minster to act on her behalf. You’d have thought the Minister would have done so by now. It’s not as if she couldn’t have been aware of the issue.

At a time when Ms Gallagher could do with some positive press, she needs to come though on this. At present, her best simply isn’t good enough!

I think you will find it is costing just as much to keep Ms Costello in hospital as it would cost to support her with proper dignity in suitable living conditions.

Unlikely.

I shouldn’t be up to the Minister to act, there should be a system in place that allows people in these situations to access the support they need. Unfortunately it’s not until you get yourself into a situation like this that you realise how woefully inadequate the system is.

Just because someone is proved to be in need of an ISP doesn’t mean one will materialise.

Letting people languish in hospital happens OFTEN, ALL over Australia.

In addition to my comment @ #7, I probably didn’t make it clear in response to JB’s comment on the OP (i.e. “The lesson here might be to approach a Government MLA first if one has a problem?”)… that by all accounts Ms Costello’s advocate(s) did approach the Gov’t first but recieved no Action. Good on Steve Doszpot for addressing the issue, Ms Costelle at least has someone championing her casuse. I was also incorrect in blaming Ms Gallagher for the inaction as Hargravesis Disabilities Minister.

C’mon Hargraves, where’s Ms Costellos’ assessment? If it’s too costly, can we at least look at selling Grasby’s statue to raise the money for it?

Al least when the purchase of Calvary goes through people with disabilities will have a choice around which side of Canberra they’re inappropriately hospitalised on.

Having said that, I’m not much in favour of individual appeals to Ministers via the Opposition as a rule. There’s already a number of people who aren’t qualifying for the limited resources in the disability sector, and success with mobilising political influence can easily create an unhelpful precedent for queue-jumping. Karyn Costello sounds like a deserving person, but we don’t know who else needs similar help, let alone how much it would cost.

On 18 July 2008 Australia joined 29 other countries in ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

“Ratifying the Convention clearly demonstrates the Rudd Government’s international commitment to ensuring people with disability are treated equally and not as second-class citizens,” Attorney-General Robert McClelland said.

Joint Media Release: Australia Ratifies UN Disabilities Convention

More than one fifth of Australians are estimated to have some kind of disability and this is expected to increase with the ageing of the population.

“As we get older, more and more of us will have reason to hope that our society really does put universal access and inclusion for people with disability into practice – whether it is a matter of being able to fully use and access housing, public transport and buildings or just basic consumer appliances,” Mr Innes said.

HREOC Media Release: A great day for Australians with disability, but there is still much to achieve

The Convention marks a “paradigm shift” in attitudes and approaches to persons with disabilities. It takes to a new height the movement from viewing persons with disabilities as “objects” of charity, medical treatment and social protection towards viewing persons with disabilities as “subjects” with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being active members of society.

The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights and areas where their rights have been violated, and where protection of rights must be reinforced.